Yigal Carmon is president and co-founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors, translates and publishes reports and videos of Arabic, Persian and Turkish publications, radio and TV broadcasts, and religious sermons into other languages. He previously served in Israeli army intelligence, attaining the rank of colonel, and later was a counter-terrorism advisor to Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir.